In my experience, all cable companies are customer service challenged, and their success relies on maintaining an oligopoly where they deliver minimal service and gouging prices. Comcast, Cablevision, Time Warner, et al know this and will do all that they can to keep out emerging competitors. In the past, potential rivals have a high barrier to entry because of the formidable cost of building the network, but with the infrastructure already in place and only getting better, new competitors are changing the game. If the noughties were the decade that the newspaper died, I think the teens is when Big Cable will become dumb pipes.
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Personally, I gave up my cable TV over a year ago in favor of iTunes. Now, I watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on the subway during my daily commute, and I catch up on LOST and The Office on my Apple TV at home. I watch about 10 shows on a consistent basis, which averages out to $50 a month in iTunes subscriptions. In short, the content I enjoy is available when I want it, where I want it, and how I want it. Plus, I don’t have to pay that $100 cable bill every month. Compared to most people, including even my most technophilic friends, I am definitely and edge case user, but I think that this experience is the future of television.
The much hyped and hoped for iTunes subscription model could bring this experience to the masses and really start to cause some headaches for the cable industry. Out of the big networks, CBS and ABC (Disney) are rumored to be in discussions with Apple. NBC is probably not going to be a part of this deal since it is being acquired by Comcast, but if the subscription model proves to be success, NBC and Fox will come on board as well.
With the upcoming Apple event on Jan 27 and rumored launch of Apple’s tablet, there is no clear consensus on why a normal user would buy it. In my opinion, the iTunes subscription would be the most compelling and game changing feature for the Apple tablet. We’ll see what happens on Wednesday. It could be the beginning of the end for Big Cable.